Covid-19: Community spread on the Isle of Man 'contained'

The island entered a second lockdown on 7 January after evidence of community cases

The spread of Covid-19 in the community on the Isle of Man has been "contained", the island's director of public health has said.

Henrietta Ewart said there had been no new "unexplained" cases for 14 days, which is considered to be the full incubation period of the virus.

She added that although the milestone was "good news", the island remained at risk from "imported cases".

There are currently 30 active cases on the island, all of whom are isolating.

Lockdown restrictions, introduced following the emergence of several community clusters, are due to be lifted on Monday.

A final decision on the scrapping of social distancing rules will be made by the Council of Ministers later this week.

Dr Ewart said the Manx contact tracing and testing regime gave health officials "confidence that we have now contained the transmission chains that were spreading out into the community".

Urging returning residents to "be rigorous in following self-isolation", she said the island was "only as Covid-safe as the last person arriving".

She also called for everyone to remain vigilant and continue to practice good hygiene.

"We're not out of the woods yet and it's really up to the behaviour of all of us to make sure we stay Covid-secure," she added.

A total of 432 people have tested positive for the virus since March, 25 of whom died.